UK Green Investment Bank and Equitix to fund biomass plant in Wrexham

UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) and Equitix have agreed to provide £25m funding for the construction of a biomass plant in Wrexham Industrial Estate, north Wales.

The plant is being developed by Liverpool-based Green Plan Energy and will generate 5.4 MW of green energy.

Bester Generacion will be responsible for construction and operation of the plant while PBS Energo will be responsible for supplying technology including the plant’s biomass boiler, flue gas cleaning system.

Hadfield Wood Recyclers will be responsible for fuel supply while the power generated from the facility will be exported to the grid and sold to ENGIE under a long-term power off-take agreement.

Expected to be completed in March 2017, the plant will be the second one to be developed by Green Plan Energy, which will generate about 34 GWh of energy per year, enough to meet the power needs of 2,400 homes.

The plant will be combined heat and power (CHP) ‘ready’, which means it has the potential to supply heat energy to neighbouring manufacturing businesses.

GIB head of Investment Banking Edward Northam said: “Britain’s manufacturing businesses consume huge amounts of heat every year, much of it from non-renewable sources.

“Dual-purpose plants like Wrexham, which are capable of generating renewable electricity and heat for the benefit of local industry, play an important role in greening the UK economy. Heat isn’t just a bi-product of the electricity generation process; it is a valuable source of energy in itself.”

Equitix-managed fund Energy Savings Investment (ESI), in which GIB is an investor, will provide £12.25m and remaining private capital has been mobilised from the parallel Equitix Energy Efficiency Fund (EEEF).